Rice Pudding with Vanilla, Orange & Rum

This recipe takes more care than making poached pears and panna cotta (don’t burn the rice), and calls for a couple ingredients you’ll need to prepare for (like a whole vanilla bean, bottle of rum, and a kitchen zester). I like playing with different ingredients to give rice pudding a fresh touch. You can also spice rice pudding with cinnamon, peacans, pistachios, figs, or even shavings of chocolate. Warmed berries, poached pears (love this paring), warmed mango slices, and fresh or dried blueberries are some of my favorites. In the recipe below, I find Giata's comibination quite nicely balanced.

Serve in martini glasses, mini serving or shot glasses, on the bottom of a poached pear, or next to a warm individually sized chocolate molten cake. (45 minutes prep time)

RICE PUDDING WITH VANILLA, ORANGE AND RUM


Giata de Laurentis
4-6 servings

5 cups whole milk

2/3 cup Arborio rice

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 T vanilla bean paste, William Sonoma)

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons dark rum

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Orange segments (blood orange is great for this)

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and rice. Scrape in the seeds of the vanilla bean, plus add the bean. Bring the milk to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring frequently, until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the sugar, rum and orange zest. Cook until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes longer. Discard the vanilla bean and spoon the rice pudding into 4-6 bowls. Cover and refridgerate until the pudding is cold, about 5 hours and up to 1 day ahead. Serve with orange segments. (And I sometimes sprinkle with cinnamon—very lightly—for texture and color.)

{Mahalo again to AC for the "Everyday with Giata" cookbook}